offstand

verb

1. To endure against; stand or ward off; defend against; withstand; resist.

   transitive

   Those who are involved in long enmities sacrifice continually to the hidit in order to offstand such affliction.

2. To offset; compensate for; make restitution for.

   transitive

   To offstand the dire effects of its hoarding policy, the Secretary, from March 4, 1885, began lending money to the national banks — that is he deposited it in those institutions.

Where it comes from

From Middle English ofstonden, from Old English ofstandan (“to remain, persist, continue; restore, make restitution”), from Proto-Germanic *afstandaną, *afstāną, equivalent to off- + stand. Cognate with Dutch afstaan (“to cede, yield, relinquish”), German abstehen (“to project, stick out, stand away”), Swedish avstå (“to refrain, desist, give up, relinquish”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry offstand (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← offsplitoffstanding →

Another random word More words starting with O